Oleic Acid

Oleic acid (in triglyceride form) is included in the normal human diet as a part of animal fats and vegetable oils.

Oleic acid as its sodium salt is a major component of soap as an emulsifying agent. It is also used as an emollient. Small amounts of oleic acid are used as an excipient in pharmaceuticals, and it is used as an emulsifying or solubilizing agent in aerosol products.[20]

Oleic acid is also used to induce lung damage in certain types of animals, for the purpose of testing new drugs and other means to treat lung diseases. Specifically in sheep, intravenous administration of oleic acid causes acute lung injury with corresponding pulmonary edema.[21] This sort of research has been of particular benefit to premature newborns, for whom treatment for underdeveloped lungs (and associated complications) is often a matter of life and death.[citation needed]

Oleic acid is used as a soldering flux in stained glass work for joining lead came.